Category Archives: science

With the aid of a leafy branch you could remove your footprints

Safe Angling Kit On the heels of safe sex comes “safe angling.” No condoms here as you’re already sheathed in rubber …

It’s toxin-free angling with hook, line, and sinkers all biodegradable or pose a diminished hazard to ducks, geese, fish, small children, and pets. Kits comprised of circle hooks, lead-free sinkers, and protein enriched biodegradable rubber worms.

… which should probably be approved by the local fish and game officer:

FoodSource lures are molded protein, so not only do they catch more fish than plastic lures, they are biodegradable and digestible if a fish eats them. Plus, they are easier to keep than live bait.

… only because “molded protein” sounds like a grey area when fishing “artificial only” water.

Fly fishermen should be able to take the moral high ground, as outside of the Twinkie wrappers and water bottles we spew, most of our tackle already poses little threat.

We lack the studies to determine exactly when a blend of Polyester and nylon decays to the point of exposing a lead wire wrapped hook shank, but outside of the danger of hook ingestion – it sounds fairly sterile.

With the emphasis on rubber soled wading shoes there will be fewer of us – but the increase of shed vests, aluminum fly boxes, sunken shattered rods, and extra spools thrown by drowning fishermen will add some small toxicity, to be sure.

Tags: safe angling, recycledfish.org, lead free jigs, molded protein, biodegradable fishing tackle, fly fishing, rubber soled wading, Twinkie wrapper

A Pale Shadow of a Man, the rise of the PIRM and his quest for outdoor supremacy

Metrosexuality and the rise of the PIRM Science claims you’re all pansies.

The “Post-Industrial Revolution Male”, whose big mouth, failing testosterone levels, and receding hairline mask a flaccid imitation of pre-Industrial Man. The surge of adrenalin that served us so well outrunning Sabertooth tigers, has dwindled to a sputtering trickle reserved for the driver ahead whose signal to merge has offended you mightily.

“…humans have lost 40 percent of the shafts of the long bones because they are no longer subjected to the kind of muscular loads that were normal before the industrial revolution.”

… implying a Cro-Magnon Steve Rajeff could have thrown his fly rod 236 feet impaling an unwary Impala through the eye … The same grain-fed post-Industrial version throws only the line a similar distance, kills nothing, and we’re awestruck.

Twenty thousand years ago six male Australian Aborigines chasing prey left footprints in a muddy lake shore that became fossilized. Analysis of the footprints shows one of them was running at 37 kph (23 mph), only 5 kph slower than Usain Bolt was traveling at when he ran the 100 meters in world record time of 9.69 seconds in Beijing last year. But Bolt had been the recipient of modern training, and had the benefits of spiked running shoes and a rubberized track, whereas the Aboriginal man was running barefoot in soft mud. Given the modern conditions, the man, dubbed T8, could have reached speeds of 45 kph, according to McAllister.

They were bigger, meaner, built from “whang” leather, and could run across the Savannah without pausing for drive thru’s or using Google Maps, surviving on warm pond water and a handful of jerked meat.

… which is the lecture every son receives from his Poppa when he reminisces of his generation and hardships .. It’s committed to memory, we endured it each time we asked for money or car keys.

”The photographs showed Tutsi initiation ceremonies in which young men had to jump their own height in order to be accepted as men. Some of them jumped as high as 2.52 meters, which is higher than the current world record of 2.45 meters.

But real stress wasn’t associated with outrunning a dinosaur, it appears avoiding matrimony may have been just as strenuous …

“…women of the extinct hominids such as the Neanderthals carried around 10 percent more muscle than modern European men, and with training could have reached 90 percent of the bulk of Arnold Schwarzenegger at his physical prime. Her shorter lower arm would have given her a great advantage in an arm wrestle, and she could easily have slammed his arm to the table.”

Which is the reason that aborigine was doing “45 in a 25.” It’s plain that our paternal ancestors organized early, initiating some type of selective breeding and evolution has given us an additional nudge. Women have necks, smell sweeter than we do, and I’ve not surrendered the remote from my nerveless, flaccid grip in weeks.

Tags: post-Industrial Man, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neanderthal matrimony, Steve Rajeff, aborigine,

We’ve struggled to explain senses we lack, can motion convey both form and identity?

Water waves Science suggests there is more to the lateral line than we’ve suspected and may provide more than mere vibration detection.

An interesting mix of attributes we’ve always thought fish had – and new information that suggests it may detect form and assist in the recognition of prey.

“The lateral-line system is a unique mechanosensory facility of aquatic animals that enables them not only to localize prey, predator, obstacles, and conspecifics, but also to recognize hydrodynamic objects. Here we present an explicit model explaining how aquatic animals such as fish can distinguish differently shaped submerged moving objects. “

The authors present evidence in the form of heady mathematics which is completely offputting despite my math background, and my posts are unable to display mathematical symbols – requiring me to interpret the theorem with English…

First, a faithful shape recognition is only possible if the distance, D (is less than but approximately equal to) the submerged moving object’s body length, B; here, B (is approximately) 5 cm. Second, localization of the submerged moving object (SMO) is possible within a distance comparable to the length of the detect-ing lateral-line.

The above suggests that a baitfish could be recognized by a hungry 30” Striped Bass at a distance approximately the same as the Striper’s length. “Recognized” is the the human term describing the new stuff we don’t know and can’t describe. It’s possible that the frantic swimming of the bait may create a disturbance that registers with the predator’s lateral line from a greater distance – but it’s unable to “know” what made the motions.

It would seem that larger fish can detect (identify) motion-based food further away than smaller fish due to the increased length of its lateral line. It may partly explain why smaller fish rush forward to take the fly, they can see/feel it but can’t recognize it as food and need to close with it before identification is complete.

… and as they’ve already spent all those precious calories getting there first – why not give it an exploratory bite …

The real question is whether we’re only matching half the hatch. Silhouette and color are certainly part of the mix, but how much does the violent swimming motion of a dislodged Stonefly alter a fish’s perception of both the natural or its stiff imitation?

When drunk, humans can be coerced into sampling a two dimensional cardboard replica of a hamburger in part because it tastes identical to its three dimensional cousin, yet unimpaired they eat it anyways recognize it as inedible even at distance.

Makes an interesting thought to ponder. We’ve always seen motion of the fly or bait as part of the overall presentation. There’s not a great deal we can do other than pull it towards us fast or slow or add some device like tungsten beads or wiggle legs.

If the fly is presented upstream will the “dead drift” be as effective as the yanked fly as there’s less lateral line to engage – or should we present streamers broadside to the lateral line – giving us an even better chance of detection?

… and while I sort out all this new information should I be carving my caddis nymphs out of Gummy Worms as their gooey freshness resonates at the same pitch as a caseless Hydropsyche in full mating rut?

We allowed bobbers so long as we called them something different – and a Gummy Bear is artificial … Can the fly fishing world survive single, barbless, and sugary?

Tags: Lateral line, fish senses, gummy bear, stonefly, motion sensitive, fly fishing,

Science proves fishermen aren’t People

Except Fishermen Reading the article is like having your buddy lean over at the conclusion of your Chinese lunch and mention, “add the words ‘in bed’ to your fortune.”

In a set of recent experiments, researchers at the University of Rochester in New York monitored the effects of natural versus artificial environments — and found that nature actually makes us nicer. 

Only in this case, add “except fishermen” to every paragraph.

Previous studies have shown the health benefits of nature range from more rapid healing to stress reduction to improved mental performance and vitality

… except fishermen.

We use Nature to inflict a dizzying assortment of twisted ligaments, contusions, bug bites, blisters, wind burns, frozen limbs, peeling extremities, lacerations, imbedded objects, and broken limbs.

… we’ve got suppurating infections, exposure to hazardous chemicals, radioactive waste, and loud music.

If the fly doesn’t land where we want, if the fish doesn’t immediately eat it, if the wind doesn’t stop, if the felt doesn’t grip – it’s elevated blood pressure, and a string of blood curdling epithets.

Five hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic to fish in horizontal sleet or driving rain is not proof of “improved mental performance.”

Now we’ve found nature brings out more social feelings, more value for community and close relationships. People are more caring when they’re around nature

… except fishermen.

We abandon spouse and children, snarl at anyone encroaching on our riffle, hide our fly box from the curious, and lie about success and failure. Our only lasting relationship is with the clerk at the gas station – source of important toiletries, embalmed cuisine, and fuel.

Fisherman ain’t People. No way.

Tags: nature, science, fishermen, damn lies and statistics, fishermen ain’t people, fly fishing humor

Another Singlebarbed Science post, mainly because absolutely no one else has the patience

Me, I wallow in bad news Me, I can’t help it. Fly fishing is like the stock market and every channel has some nicely powdered fellow telling you what to buy. Most ignore the larger picture in favor of the populist message; get in now, you’re missing it.

Fishing has the same urgency for me, as I’m forced to eat a great deal of bad news and mold it into glib commentary. Which is why I’m fascinated by stream science (in all its many forms) and insist on posting these tasty little nuggets – despite your collective yawn.

It’s mostly about fresh potable water, something that our piddly little sport requires in great abundance and in the pristine variant. With the increasing density of humans and the decline in freshwater quality, most of the streams we hold dear – will be squarely in the crosshairs of plenty of important people, numerous multinational corporations, and all of them will have bigger war chests and more political clout than every conservation group added together.

… but that battle is still decades distant.

Right now, it’s about 20% of the dragonflies and damselflies disappearing in the Mediterranean, due to the scarcity of fresh water.

Dragonflies are generally known for being good indicators of water quality. Major threats for 67 percent of these Mediterranean species are habitat degradation and pollution. The Spotted Darter (Sympetrum depressiusculum), which used to be common in the Mediterranean, is now listed as Vulnerable and is declining due to the intensification of agricultural practices in rice fields.

Pollution and rice fields, sounds mighty familiar.

I tromp through the same chemical brew here in California, fishing for panting trash fish covered in Copepods, knowing that some kindred spirit in Italy is cursing his politicians as violently as I am. His damselflies will go the way of my salmon, one day they’re here and the next … the supermarket freezer has pallid stacks of frozen “color added” …

Then it’ll just be us guys spinning yarns about what used to be in that toxic rivulet the neighbor kid emptied his motor oil into.

… but Science ain’t all bad. I’m forced to wallow through an aggregation of dead, diseased, and dying – to find the occasional scientific nugget to cheer us all.

It may be safe to put them big feet back in the creek, as the sand and sediment stirred by your sliding through the fast water allows the creek to hold its shape.

Sand and siltation has always carried the evil label, as it’s known to cover spawning gravel and terraform a cobble bottom to its liking. UC Berkeley researchers suggest it also plays an important role in cutting off meanders allowing rivers to avoid fragmenting into many smaller rivulets.

The significance of vegetation for slowing erosion and reinforcing banks has been known for a long time, but this is the first time it has been scientifically demonstrated as a critical component in meandering. Sand is an ingredient generally avoided in stream restoration as it is known to disrupt salmon spawning. However, Braudrick and his colleagues have shown that it is indispensable for helping to build point bars and to block off cut-off channels and chutes–tributaries that might start and detract from the flow and health of the stream.

Animal trails and depressions in the landscape can be scoured deeper with Winter’s flows, providing the opportunity for channel formation which splits the river and diminishes flows along both branches. A combination of bank side growth and instream sand forms a “self sealing” repair kit preventing channelization of the riverbed.

Science. I got your reality show right here, babe.

Tags: channelization, meander, UC Berkeley, siltation, sand, bankside vegetation, dragonflies, damselflies, rice, tomatoes, pollution

Plight of the Living Dead – George Romero’s ode to Brownliners

The scorn of the fly fishing elite we could shrug off, but brownliners as role model for the latest Zombie flick is applying the boots to our prone form.

It wasn’t the steady persecution nor threat of harm, our numbers were thinned steadily by enraged spouses wielding bars of Ivory Snow. A fellow can only take so many “hose-downs” on his front lawn with neighbors a-titter before he holds his manhood cheap …

It’s proven fact that Mankind cannot survive a Zombie invasion, but us fishermen have always assumed we’d be aligned with the screaming survivors – as Hollywood insists most will be comely high school babes who deserve better than being the entree …

I figured I’d go out like the grizzled old “reptile” that blazes trail for the escapees compliments of a D-9 Caterpillar and a fully loaded fuel truck. He always gets it in the end, but this wise old fellow sacrifices everything knowing that holding a conversation with them gals is worse than living death …

Tags: George Romero, Night of the Living Dead, Zombie menace, Brownliners, zombie fishing, Youtube, teenage girls, shudder

A Triploid World Record Rainbow is so last week

Get some today I’m in that tiny minority of fishermen that see the Big Picture and won’t lose any sleep over whether a trout fed on deep fried Snicker bars is a true world record or not.

I attribute my pragmatic view to the slow death of the quality water – and the inexorable spread of taint. Too many humans in too small an area begats a slow corruption of water, soil, and air.

You recognize the issue all too well and while you’d rather it wasn’t on our doorstep, you’ve witnessed a lot of your former haunts become a shell of what once was…

Humans have to eat and water is precious. If you’re of the school that only a pure strain rainbow is deserved “World Record” status, then it’s likely you still leave cake and milk on the hearth for Old Saint Nick.

Considering that steaks will probably come from an amorphous blob of cattle-like substance – grown in vitro so we can reduce bovine-sourced Methane, and fish will suffer some similar fate; a scaly mass – fed brightly colored proteins via a latticework of tubes, surrounded by white-coated freshman wondering which gene to add next. Science doesn’t care for your silly little pastime – they’re worried about the important stuff ..

.. like feeding all of us snobs for the next couple of decades.

The beauty of science is all the permutations we’ll see before that sodden mass is ready for filleting, and some of them will be unsuitable table fare, they’ll be adding a bit of this to a dab of that and something’s bound to escape.

If it doesn’t eat all of us or befoul what little planet is left, it might prove to be a robust gamefish – despite having to wear a shark suit when you fish for it, as wading in anything less means you’re bait (fishing).

In the meantime, lighten up a little. What we know is going the way of the Model A Ford, and what we don’t know may make you scratch your chin …

… like the Superfish I’m always giggling about. It might be here … now.

“The duo has been feeding rainbow trout a diet of 5 percent Creatine, the naturally occurring amino acid (contrary to some, Creatine isn’t a steroid or a growth hormone, Hayward says) that former Major League Baseball slugger Mark McGuire said he used as he chased baseball’s single-season home-run record in 1998.

The results show that some of the rainbows are responding to the Creatine diet like humans who regularly take the popular yet controversial body building supplement and follow a consistent weightlifting program.

They’re getting stronger ..”

Stuff some fatty triploid with Creatine and we’ll need Double Taper 9 weights for dry flies … and if 5% is good, 75% would be sublime.

Your kid will be munching on a fish burger, that’s still wriggling despite being deep fried, wondering how you endured those “quaint” natural fish – while he’s knotting on another Titanium treble-equipped parachute.

But that has not prevented the researchers from leaping to an economic conclusion. ”Fishermen probably would pay a premium for a chance of catching fish that fought longer and harder,” one of them said.

… and Mr. Trout Snob, your lofty ethics will fall by the wayside when a membership to Brawny Creek opens. You’ll be so busy reaching for your checkbook to notice you’ve drooled on your cravat.

45 pound Rainbow the new World’s Record? That is so last week…

Tags: Creatine fed rainbow trout, performance enhancing drugs, Mark McGwire, super trout, steroid trout, good old days, world record rainbow trout, triploid, fish burger

Tastes like a McNugget but can’t swim

A few genes missing won't hurt much I keep harping on the need for a genetic superfish and unfortunately science seems hellbent on granting my wish.

Scientists have been working on reducing painful conditions in farmed livestock so they can be wadded into kennels closer together, fed rocks instead of real food, and beheaded without undue hormonal surge – all for the perfectly humane burger…

No, the condemned won’t get a last meal – they’ll merely have certain genes removed so they are no longer uncomfortable when packed in tightly and sleep standing up.

Now that 50% of the fish consumed are farmed scientists can focus on a disease resistant strain that doesn’t mind getting crapped on by the fish above, hit in the head by shovelfuls of pellets, and excretes daisies rather than starving the ocean floor with normal waste.

With the DNA rewired from stem to stern we’ll get some bottle-nosed, lumpy thing that takes to polluted water like we take to Ma’s freshbaked cookies. It’ll gargle feminine hormones, spawn in sewage and still taste like a Chicken McNugget.

As the farmed fish industry will be footing the bill, it’ll hunt in packs so it can defend its cage from seals, possess an armored carapace so Osprey just bounce off, and can burrow in the bank and thrive on earthworms during dry spells.

We’ll be scared to fish for the damn thing for fear we might catch one.

Science is an amazing discipline and while most of the above is near term, you’ve still got a little time …

… they’ll have to teach the invasive-superbeing-sumbitch to swim.

Tags: genetic super fish, gene removal, pain threshold, pain tolerance, Chicken McNugget, DNA, farmed fish,

Raised in an artificial environment what did you expect?

He died for your sins... Raised in a bubble with the press of humanity alert to your every move, tight security and handlers catering to your every need, with researchers and reporters combing through your trash -you’re certain to have reproductive problems.

Androgyny is the least of your worries, what with caretakers ensuring you’re fed and clothed, associations groomed to the privileged few of similar means, thrust together in some artificial world the rest of us only read about. Why wouldn’t the entire boy-girl thing gets skewed- where little boys look cute and girls are asexual … free drugs from a licensed physician, and never have to drive yourself anywhere …

I want to be a hatchery fish too …

Under those circumstances I’m surprised the scientists at Oregon State University were surprised that hatchery fish have trouble breeding  – and more importantly so do their offspring.

Fishery managers have suggested boosting the last vestiges of wild-spawning native salmon runs by crossbreeding them with relatively abundant hatchery fish.

Doing so may cause more harm than good, according to the OSU researchers.

As I’ve been keeping score their current management scenario is as follows: They’re shooting sea lion’s that eat the returning hatchery fish as there ain’t enough of them to feed us and the sea lions, but the fish they’re protecting are intermingling with the last few native fish, which undermines the reproduction of both, so:

“We have to go to greater lengths to (enhance) our ability to remove and harvest hatchery fish,” he said. “Those that aren’t harvested ought to be captured.”

… we’re going to kill all of the hatchery fish as they’re now the enemy.

It’s clear to me, kill %$#& everything, pave it, then blame our parents for the wanton despoiling of our precious fishery.

…. and that World War II thing, that was lame too …

The hoary spectre of precise imitation rattles its chains

They compare culinary notes...I’ll unleash a storm of precise imitation, a half dozen tell-all manuscripts, and turn both coasts of fly fishermen on their collective ear…

… and I’ve always wanted to do that, just once …

Having fished for American Shad for many years I’d always subscribed to the “attractor” theory; they smack flies out of spite/anger/curiosity but they didn’t feed in freshwater…

Conventional wisdom said, “Shad feed on krill and plankton in saltwater, but don’t feed while migrating…” This is “fishing wisdom” talking and after you get a similar response from the first nineteen fellows that know more than you – you stop asking.

A recent article in the American Fisheries Journal suggests Shad do feed in freshwater, but neither regularly or with much gusto..

(Extract follows – the article body is available only for purchase)

We evaluated the feeding habits of American shad Alosa sapidissima on spawning grounds in the St. Johns River, Florida. Feeding intensity in freshwater was generally low but highly variable. The items consumed were mainly pelagic (cyclopoid copepods and woody debris), although benthic (mollusks and sand) and surface (adult insects [Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Odonata]) organisms occurred occasionally. The stomach fullness index varied by location for males, suggesting that ingestion is related to prey availability. Feeding by females also varied by location and continued during final oocyte maturation and active spawning. Egg cannibalism was suggested by the presence of some eggs morphologically similar to American shad eggs in the stomachs of males and females collected when females were running ripe. The results from diel sampling suggested that individuals consumed approximately 1.727 kJ/d in freshwater, which represents only a small fraction of the estimated daily energetic expenditure during the spawning run. Unlike iteroparous populations, Florida’s American shad probably do not conserve energy for out-migration. While this low incidence of freshwater feeding did not maintain fish weight, it may increase available energy and thereby increase fecundity.

Gives us something to think about. Shad don’t feed much and when they do eat mollusks, wood, shad roe, moths, damsel/dragonflies, and midges.

…which neatly explains why Shad are attracted to florescent flies with eye-watering vibrancy and dripping shiny … after completing a thousand mile journey to an exotic locale they’re sampling the local cuisine – same as we would.

shad roe Before you run out for eleven dozen egg flies of steelhead vintage, shad eggs are about a size 20.

Calf liver would be a close approximation to an egg sack – but the bait issue would send you mincing about gashing yourselves in mock horror – so I’d go for a couple packs of rubber dogshit and shape it with a paring knife…

… that shouldn’t offend them delicate sensibilities too terrible much.